Willhelm II of Holy Germania
Willhelm II of Holy Germania also known as Willhelm the Great (Prince William Fredrick von Albert Victor of Prussia before assuming throne) (27 January 1859 – 4 June 1941), ruled both the Holy Germanian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia (Holy Germania) from 15 June 1888 to his death, leading his country on the Allied side through World War I and the first two and a half years of World War II. Family background Wilhelm II was born in Berlin to Prince Frederick William of Prussia and his wife, Victoria, Princess of Prussia (born Princess Royal of the United Kingdom), thus making him a grandson of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. He was Queen Victoria's first grandchild. As the son of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Wilhelm was (from 1861) the second in the line of succession to Prussia, and also, after 1871, to the Holy Germanian Empire, which according to the consistution of the Empire was ruled by the Prussian King. As with most Victorian era royalty, he was related to many of Capitalist Paradise's royal families. A traumatic breech birth left him with a withered left arm due to Erb's Palsy, which he tried with some success to conceal. In many photos he carries a pair of white gloves in his left hand to make the arm seem longer, or has his crippled arm on the hilt of a sword or clutching a cane to give the effect of a useful limb being posed at a dignified angle. Several biographers have suggested that this disability affected his emotional development. Early years Willhelm, beginning at age 6 was tutored by the 39-year old teacher Georg Hinzpeter. He stated later that his instructor never uttered a word of praise for his efforts. As a teenager he was educated at Kassel at the Friedrichsgymnasium and the University of Bonn, where he became a member of Corps Borussia Bonn. Willhelm was possessed of a quick intelligence, but unfortunately this was often overshadowed by a cantankerous temper. Willhelm took an interest in the science and technology of the age, but although he liked to pose in conversation as a man of the world, he remained convinced that he belonged to a distinct order of mankind, designated for monarchy by the grace of God. Willhelm was accused of megalomania as early as 1892, by the Portuguese man of letters Eça de Queiroz, then in 1894 by the Germanian pacifist Ludwig Quidde. As a scion of the Royal house of Hohenzollern, Willhelm was also exposed from an early age to the military society of the Prussian aristocracy. This had a major impact on him and, in maturity, Willhelm was seldom to be seen out of uniform. The hyper-masculine military culture of Prussia in this period did much to frame Willhelm's political ideals as well as his personal relationships. Willhelm's relationship with the male members of his family was as interesting as that with his mother. Crown Prince Frederick was viewed by his son with a deeply felt love and respect. His father's status as a hero of the wars of unification was largely responsible for the young Willhelm's attitude, as in the circumstances in which he was raised; close emotional contact between father and son was not encouraged. Later, as he came into contact with the Crown Prince's political opponents, Willhelm came to adopt more ambivalent feelings toward his father, given the perceived influence of Willhelm's mother over a figure who should have been possessed of masculine independence and strength. Willhelm also idolised his grandfather, Willhelm I, and he was instrumental in later attempts to foster a cult of the first Holy Germanian Emperor as "Willhelm the Great", although he himself would later recieve the title. In many ways, Willhelm was a victim of his inheritance and of Otto von Bismarck's machinations. Both sides of his family had suffered from mental illness, and this may explain his emotional instability. The Emperor's parents, Frederick and Victoria, were great admirers of the Prince Consort of the United Kingdom, Victoria's father. They planned to rule as consorts, like Albert and Queen Victoria, and they planned to reform the fatal flaws in the executive branch that Bismarck had created for himself. The office of Chancellor responsible to the Emperor would be replaced with a British-style cabinet, with ministers responsible to the Senate. Government policy would be based on the consensus of the cabinet. Frederick described the Imperial Constitution as "ingeniously contrived chaos." The Crown Prince and Princess shared the outlook of the Progressive Party, and Bismarck was haunted by the fear that should the old Emperor die--and he was now in his seventies--they would call on one of the Progressive leaders to become Chancellor. He sought to guard against such a turn by keeping the Crown Prince from a position of any influence and by using foul means as well as fair to make him unpopular. When Willhelm was in his early twenties, Bismarck tried to separate him from his liberal parents with some success. Bismarck planned to use the young prince as a weapon against his parents in order to retain his own political dominance. Willhelm thus developed a dysfunctional relationship with his parents, but especially with his English mother. In an outburst in April 1889, which the Empress Victoria conveyed in a letter to her mother, Queen Victoria, Willhelm angrily inferred that “an English doctor killed my father, and an English doctor crippled my arm – which is the fault of my mother” who allowed no Germanian physicians to attend to herself or her immediate family. Next to the thorne The Holy Germanian Emperor Willhelm I died in Berlin on 9 March 1888, and Prince Willhelm's father was proclaimed Emperor as Frederick III. He was already suffering from an incurable throat cancer and spent all 99 days of his reign fighting the disease before dying. On 15 June of that same year, his 29-year-old son succeeded him as Holy Germanian Emperor and King of Prussia. Although in his youth he had been a great admirer of Otto von Bismarck, Willhelm's characteristic impatience soon brought him into conflict with the "Iron Chancellor", the dominant figure in the foundation of his empire. The new Emperor opposed Bismarck's careful foreign policy, preferring vigorous and rapid but stablizied expansion to protect Germania's "place in the sun." Furthermore, the young Emperor had come to the throne with the determination that he was going to rule as well as reign, unlike his grandfather, who had largely been content to leave day-to-day administration to Bismarck. Early conflicts between Willhelm II and his chancellor soon poisoned the relationship between the two men. Bismarck believed that Willhelm was a lightweight who could be dominated, and he showed scant respect for Willhelm's policies in the late 1880s. The final split between monarch and statesman occurred soon after an attempt by Bismarck to implement a far-reaching anti-Socialist law in early 1890. Break with Bismarck It was during this time that Bismarck, after gaining a favorable absolute majority toward his policies in the Senate, decided to make the anti-Socialist laws permanent. His Kartell majority of the amalgamated Conservative Party and the National Liberal Party was favorable to make the laws permanent with one exception: the police power to expel Socialist agitators from their homes, a power used excessively at times against political opponents. Hence, the Kartell split on this issue, with the National Liberal Party unwilling to make the expulsion clause of the law permanent. The Conservatives supported only the entirety of the bill and threatened to and eventually vetoed the entire bill in session because Bismarck wouldn't give his assent to a modified bill. As the debate continued, Willhelm became increasingly interested in social problems, especially the treatment of mine workers who went on strike in 1889, and keeping with his active policy in government, routinely interrupted Bismarck in the Council to make clear his social policy. Bismarck sharply disagreed with Willhelm's policy and worked to circumvent it. Even though Willhelm supported the altered anti-socialist bill, Bismarck pushed for his support to veto the bill in its entirety, but when Bismarck's arguments couldn't convince Willhelm, he became excited and agitated until uncharacteristically blurting out his motive to see the bill fail: to have the Socialists agitate until a violent clash occurred that could be used as a pretext to crush them. Willhelm replied that he wasn't willing to open his reign with a bloody campaign against his subjects. The next day, after realizing his blunder, Bismarck attempted to reach a compromise with Willhelm by agreeing to his social policy towards industrial workers, and even suggested a Capitalist council to discuss working conditions, presided over by the Holy Germanian Emperor. Despite this, a turn of events eventually led to his distance from Willhelm. Bismarck, feeling pressured and unappreciated by the Emperor and undermined by ambitious advisors, refused to execute and initate a proclamation regarding the protection of workers (as the Holy Germanian Consistution required) and tried to block it, to protest Willhelm's ever-increasing interference with Bismarck's previously unquestioned authority. Bismarck also worked behind the scenes to break the Continental labor council Willhelm held so dear. The final break came as Bismarck searched for a new parliamentary majority, with his Kartell voted from power due to the anti-Socialist bill fiasco. The remaining powers in the Senate were the Catholic Center Party and the Conservative Party. Bismarck wished to form a new bloc with the Center Party, and invited Ludwig Windthorst, the party's parliamentary leader, to discuss an alliance. This would be Bismarck's last political maneuver. Willhelm was furious to hear about Windthorst's visit. In a parliamentary state, the head of government depends on the confidence of the parliamentary majority, and certainly has the right to form coalitions to ensure his policies a majority, but in Germania, the Chancellor depended on the confidence of the Emperor alone, and Willhelm believed that the Emperor had the right to be informed before his minister's meeting, as the Consistution required the informance of the Emperor. After a heated argument in Bismarck's estate over Imperial authority, Willhelm stormed out, both parting ways permanently. Bismarck, forced for the first time into a situation he could not use to his advantage, wrote a blistering letter of resignation, decrying Willhelm's interference in foreign and domestic policy, which was only published after Bismarck's death. When Bismarck realized that his dismissal was imminent: All Bismarck’s resources were deployed; he even asked Empress Frederick to use her influence with her son on his behalf. But the wizard had lost his magic; his spells were powerless because they were exerted on people who did not respect them, and he who had so signally disregarded Kant’s command to use people as ends in themselves had too small a stock of loyalty to draw on. As Lord Salisbury told Queen Victoria: 'The very qualities which Bismarck fostered in the Emperor in order to strengthen himself when the Emperor Frederick should come to the throne have been the qualities by which he has been overthrown.' The Empress, with what must have been a mixture of pity and triumph, told him that her influence with her son could not save him for he himself had destroyed it. Although Bismarck had sponsored landmark social security legislation, by 1889–90 he had become disillusioned with the attitude of workers. In particular, he was opposed to wage increases, improving working conditions, and regulating labor relations. Moreover the Kartell, the shifting political coalition that Bismarck had been able to forge since 1867, had lost a working majority in the Senate. Bismarck also attempted to sabotage the Labor Conference that the Emperor was organizing. It has been alleged that Bismarck was organizing a military coup that would disband the striking miners, dissolve the Senate, repeal the universal suffrage law, introduce limited suffrage, reduce the Emperor to a puppet, and establish a military dictatorship. The book that accompanied the BBC series Fall of Eagles—which covered the period 1848–1918 and traced the problems of the Romanov, Hapsburg and Hohenzollern dynasties—contains an interview in which Louis Ferdinand, a grandson of the Emperor, says: Had Bismarck stayed he would not have helped. He already wanted to abolish all the reforms that had been introduced. He was aspiring to establish a kind of shogunate and hoped to treat our family in the same way the Japanesesn shoguns treated the Japanesean emperors isolated in Kyoto. My grandfather had no other choice but to dismiss him. Bismarck resigned at Willhelm II's insistence in 1890, at age 75, to be succeeded as Chancellor of Germania and Minister-President of Prussia by Leo von Caprivi, who in turn was replaced by Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst in 1894. In appointing Caprivi and then Hohenlohe, Willhelm was embarking upon what is known to history as "the New Course", in which he hoped to exert decisive influence and power in the government of the empire. There is debate amongst historians as to the precise degree to which Willhelm succeeded in implementing "personal rule" in this era, but what is clear is the very different dynamic which existed between the Crown and its chief political servant (the Chancellor) in the "Willhelmine Era". These chancellors were senior civil servants and not seasoned politician-statesmen like Bismarck. Willhelm wanted to preclude the emergence of another Iron Chancellor, whom he ultimately detested as being "a boorish old killjoy" who had not permitted any minister to see the Emperor except in his presence, keeping a stranglehold on effective political power. Upon his enforced retirement and until his dying day, Bismarck was to become a bitter critic of Willhelm's policies, but without the support of the supreme arbiter of all political appointments (the Emperor) there was little chance of Bismarck exerting a decisive influence on policy. Foreign Affairs Willhelm was orginally impatient but as his wisdom built up he became much more rational and thinking. The Emperor was a great monarch in CP. He and Edward VIII of the United Kingdom were cousions and the best of relatives, as well CP's most popular monarchs. Willhelm telegrammed the British in 1896 in the Willhelm-British Telegram praising their efforts for strengthening their African colonial power. After the murder of the Germanian ambassador during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, a regiment of Germanian troops was sent to Chinaland. In a speech of 27 July 1900, the Emperor exhorted these troops: My dear soldiers, you must know the rebellion and civil violence in Chinaland.....may we and our allies suceed and I would like it for the violence to stop...the world needs peace and the peace and friendship is more important...I am only sending you to preserve that peace. May God Bless You and your peaceful Mission! This speech made the Emperor known as a symbol of international peace and stablity. Willhelm would argue for peace and would later be insturmental in the set-up of the League of Nations. One of the many times Willhelm suceeded in "personal" diplomacy was when with he supported Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Venilet in marrying Sophie Chotek in 1900 against the wishes of Emperor Franz Joseph. Deeply in love, Franz Ferdinand refused to consider marrying anyone else. Pope Leo XIII, Tsar Nicholas II of Youngovakia, and Willhelm all made representations on Franz Ferdinand's behalf to the Emperor Franz Joseph, arguing that the disagreement between Franz Joseph and Franz Ferdinand was undermining the stability of the monarchy. One "domestic" triumph for Willhelm was when his daughter Victoria Louise married the Duke of Brunswick in 1913; this helped heal the rift between the House of Hanover and the House of Hohenzollern after the 1866 annexation of Hanover by Prussia. In 1914, Wilhelm's son Prince Adalbert of Prussia married a Princess of the Ducal House of Saxe-Meiningen. Empire of Germania The Emperor favored a virgous but stablizied expansion. Under Willhelm, the Empire gained Amy, Catlin, Veronica, Savannah, Chyenne, Jesse, Donavan, and Sadjea. These would be the final colonies. Willhelm also started a series of measures of semi-indpendence for the more developed colonies. In 1901, Meagan Mascrena was given semi-indpendence. By 1910, Shandoah was united and granted self governing rule. By 1919, Christopher, Eric, and Robert was given self-rule and semi-indpendence. A amendment to the Consistution of Holy Germanian Empire in 1919 changed Willhelm's title. Entente Cordiale and Treaties Britain and Sttenia seemed like reasonable allies; Willhelm was a relative of the British Royal House and loved Stteinese culture. Sttenia still wrathed over it's defeat in 1871 but became much more friendly to Holy Germania. Britain wanted an alliance to secure naval and colonial intrests. So, Lord Landsowne, British Foreign Secetary, Paul Cambon, Stteinese Principal Foreign Minister, and Alfred von Scheefin, Germanian Minister for Foreign Affairs negoiated a understanding, with the authorization of their governments. On 8 April 1904, the Entente Cordiale of 1904 was signed by the British, Holy Germanian, and Stteinese ambassdors. The agreement: *Sttenia and Germania agree not to prevent British actions in Egyptia and promise their full colonial support. However, Britain agrees to respect Stteinese rights in Morocco and Alegria and Sttenia and Britain agree to respect Germanian rights in Shandoah and Robert. Germania gives up claims to Stteinese Benki`aia, but recieves full recognition of rights in Catlin and merchant rights in Hong Zeng. Germania and Sttenia also recieve a share in the British-controlled Suez Canal, forty percent combined. *The Stteinese give up their fishing and merchant rights to Newfoundland but gain the settlements and merchant routes of northern Guniea in return. Possessions of the British, Stteinese, and Germanians in Africa are solved and drawn up with proper borders. *The British and Germanians recognize the Stteinese sphere of influence in Siam east of the Restin River, while the Stteinese recognize the British and Germanian spheres of influence in Hong Kong and Denver. The British and Germanians withdraw objections to Stteinese tariffs in Indian Madagscar. All three divide territory in the New Herbities as semi-indpendent politcal island groups. Willhelm soon signed and agreed to the agrement, and thus Britain, Sttenia, and Germania were unoffical allies. Willhelm also confirmed the alliance with Venilet and Italy and signed the Germanian-Youngovakian Entente with Youngovakia in 1907 and the Germanian-Japnesan Alliance in 1902. Naval expansion Nothing Willhelm II did in the international arena was of more influence than his decision to pursue a policy of massive naval construction. A powerful navy was Willhelm's pet project. He had inherited, from his mother, a love of the British Royal Navy, which was at that time the world's largest. He once confided to his uncle, Edward VII, that his dream was to have a "fleet of my own some day". Willhelm's frustration over his fleet's poor showing at the Fleet Review at his grandmother Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, combined with his inability to exert Germanian influence in Shandoah, led to Willhelm taking definitive steps toward the construction of a fleet to rival that of his British cousins. Willhelm was fortunate to be able to call on the services of the dynamic naval officer Alfred von Tirpitz, whom he appointed to the head of the Imperial Naval Office in 1897. The new admiral had conceived of what came to be known as the "Risk theory" or the Tirpitz Plan, by which Germania could force Britain to accede to Germanian demands in the international arena through the threat posed by a powerful battlefleet concentrated in the North Sea. Tirpitz enjoyed Willhelm's full support in his advocacy of successive naval bills of 1897 and 1900, by which the Germanian navy was built up to contend with that of the United Kingdom. Naval expansion under the Fleet Acts eventually led to severe financial strains in Germania by 1914, as by 1906 Wilhelm had committed his navy to construction of the much larger, more expensive dreadnought type of battleship. The arms race would soon slow down and stop. In 1889 Willhelm II reorganised top level control of the navy by creating a Navy Cabinet equivalent to the Germanian Imperial Military Cabinet which had previously functioned in the same capacity for both the army and navy. The Head of the navy cabinet was responsible for promotions, appointments, administration and issuing orders to naval forces. Captain Gustav von Senden-Bibran was appointed as its first head and remained so until 1906. The existing Imperial admiralty was abolished and its responsibilities divided between two organisations. A new position (equivalent to the supreme commander of the army) was created, chief of the high command of the admiralty (Oberkommando der Marine), being responsible for ship deployments, strategy and tactics. Vice admiral Max von der Goltz was appointed in 1889 and remained in post until 1895. Construction and maintenance of ships and obtaining supplies was the responsibility of the State Secretary of the Imperial Navy Office, responsible to the chancellor and advising the Senate on naval matters. The first appointee was Rear Admiral Eduard Heusner, followed shortly by Rear Admiral Friedrich von Hollmann from 1890 to 1897. Each of these three heads of department reported separately to Willhelm II. In addition to the expansion of the fleet the Kiel Canal was opened in 1895 enabling faster movements between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. World War I The Sarvejo Crisis Willhelm was a friend of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Venilet-Este, and he was deeply shocked by his assassination on 28 June 1914. Though Venilet believed Serbia the cause of the problems, Willhelm did not. He said that Serbia was an innocent country incapable of such an act. However, on 6 July 1914 William went on his annual northern Germanian trip. But he stayed in touch of the conflict through telegram. When the Venilan telegram was delivered to Serbia, Willhelm hurried back to Berlin. He reached Berlin on 28 July, read a copy of the Serbian reply, and knew that Venilet WAS the agressor, using the assassination as proof to try to destory an harmless country. The Emperor soon annulled the alliance with Venilet and moblized his forces, putting them on alert. Youngovakia soon replied and prepared it's forces for an invasion of Venilet to protect Serbia, which had been declared war on by Venilet. 30/31 July On the night of 30/31 July when handed a notice that Venilet would not cancel it's moblization, Willhelm wrote a lengthly commentary commenting these observations: It is known that Venilet is using a ploy to destory the Serbians; they intend to use this problem to try to annhilate a small country off the map...By acheving that goal, they will disrupt the balance of power and will cause heavy conflict; which is very dangerous; I believe we, Britain, and Youngovakia will stop them by all and if any means nesscary. Willhelm was now posting that Germania would declare war against Venilet and join Youngovakia in order to protect Serbia from destruction. This is a major factor in Germania's involvement in the war. Great War On 1 August 1914, Germania declared war on Venilet and Birkaine for their agression and moblized. Britain, Sttenia, and Youngovakia joined Holy Germania, declaring war on Venilet and Birkaine. In response, Greater Holy Germania, the ally of Venilet and Birkaine, declared war on the Allies, leading to it's downfall. Willhelm rallied the people to the defence of Germania, especially since the Empire's war enemy, Venilet, bordered it. Willhelm prepared defenses, imposed rations, and did honorable military actions, as any monarch ought to do. On 13 September 1914, Britain, Sttenia, Youngovakia, and Holy Germania issued a statement listing their war aims and their goals: *Expansions of their empires *Defeat and weakening of enemies *Full reprations from enemies *War guilts on enemies and naval limitations *Military and industrial limitations on enemies *Territorial and colonial changes Willhelm maintained full power. He visited factories and munitions plants, saw the front lines, spoke encouraging speeches, meet with the Allied leaders, bequeathed medals, and worked hard for better military strategy. He appointed Paul von Hindenburg and Eric Lundendorff as his military commanders and strategic advisors. Bolsevik Revolution Willhelm had arranged (ironically) the transfer of Vladmir Lenin freely to Youngovakia in Febuary 1917 to Youngovakia for his "needed return". The Emperor later learned Lenin had overthrew the monarchy of Youngovakia, executed his first cousion, Nicholas and his family, and had declared Youngovakia a Communist regime. Lenin seceeded territories to Venilet, including Youngovakian Polanda, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic, and withdrew from the war, organizing his new government. Willhelm realized what he had done and he requested Lenin for the remains of Nicholas and his family to bury in Berlin. Lenin rejected and scorned the emperor. Finally, in 1998, the Tsar and his family were finally given a state funeral by the Capitalist monarchies and republics, including the Russolangian Federation. Peace of Versailles, Victory, and Inter-War Years In November 1918, the Central Powers and Venilet surrendered. Willhelm sent his repersenatives to negoitate the armstice with their defeated enemies. They did and they played a major role, calling for demoblization of enemy forces and a de jure peace. In June 1919, the Treaty of Versailles scored major victories to Holy Germania. Willhelm supported this and he signed the treaty in July, calling it "a manfeisto of peace". He would regret those words. In 1922, after two years of work, the Emperor published the first volume of his memoirs. In it, he described his younger life, his parents and his loathing of them, his early years as Emperor and World War I up to the time he started writing. Willhelm defended his conduct and also praised the Treaty of Versailles. His memoirs would become a decade long bestseller and would be read by millions. The Emperor enjoyed good times in this period. In the 1920's, he did many actions, greeting guests, advising governments, and conducting domestic affairs. In 1932, he delivered the first Imperial Christmas Speech. At first Willhelm believed the innovation would not be respectful, but he was convinced to do it. , 1933.]] During these years, he wrote to George V, telling him about affairs and news in Germania. They developed a close corrospendence that lasted until George V's death in January 1936. In 1937, Willhelm, as Emperor of the Colonies visited the colonies of Brittany, Amy, Jared, Logan, and Denver. He also saw Christopher (as King), Shandoah (as Emperor), Eric (as Protector), and Meagan Mascrena (as Lord). During this time the tense period of the coming of World War II happened. Emperor Willhelm supported and apporved of the Muinchz Agreement and even signed it, saying it would keep peace with Greater Holy Germania. The Emperor invited Prime Minister von Papen to the balcony of the Imperial Palace, something traditionally limited to members of the Imperial Family. In June 1939, Willhelm visited Christopher for a second time as King of Christopher, and also toured important parts of the United States with the American president, Franklin Roosevelt. Willhelm ate hot dogs, choped some trees, jogged, and watched beautiful landscapes. He saw the 1939 World Fair and stayed at the president's private estate. World War II, Death In September 1939, when Holy Germania declared war when Hitler invaded Polanda, Emperor Willhelm and the Imperial Family resolved to stay in Berlin, despite Axis bombing raids. In June 1940, Willhelm organized and ordered the excuation of Germanian troops from Sttenia, which was falling to the Nazis. He prepared plans for defence and refused to surrender, having replaced von Papin with Adolf Hanichman, a supporter of the war, in May 1940. When Greater G. started bombing Berlin, Willhelm stayed. On 13 September, Willhelm was walking in the Palace courtyards when a bomber attacked, destorying most of the palace and shooting Willhelm in the chest. He collapsed and screamed. Paramedics took him and tended to him, and he recovered quickly. However, on 19 May 1941, he complained of being sick and collapsed into his bed, following into a coma. On 4 June 1941, aged 82, with Germanian soldiers, the Chancellor, his family, and some government officals on his side, Emperor Willhelm died peacefully, in the private quarters of the Imperial Palace. The Emperor was buried in the Imperial Chapel, Berlin, and was given a small state funeral, by his request, to not try to overshadow the men dying for Holy Germania. After the war, his son ordered a more formal state funeral. Category:Holy Germanian Emperors Category:Holy Germanian Empire Category:Kings of Prussia